Production Notes: Ryvoli’s “Oleika Sunset”

Oleika Sunset is the first single off the new Ryvoli album. This was a lengthy process so it’s a bit fuzzy but here’s what I remember about the production of this tune…

This was my first project since my two-year break from production or what I like to call my “quarter-life crisis.”

In preparation for having a kid, I freaked out, sold all my recording gear, and tried to have a career in real estate. Then my wife and I had our first child the day of the first COVID case in our hometown. After that, I got a “real job” for the first time ever (not in real estate.)

In some ways coming back into producing music was like riding a bike. In other ways, I was rusty and had forgotten a few key lessons and had to re-learn them on this project. Thankfully, I already had a great relationship with Sam and Jenn and we put together an incredible team for this project (more on them in a minute.)

Here’s me fresh off my quarter-life crisis wearing Tevas in a recording studio. Smh.

Pre-PRoduction Is key

One of the most important lessons that I forgot was how important pre-production is. This is especially true when you’re on a limited time frame and limited budget. When we started, we thought we had eight days to track this entire album. Looking back on past projects like this, two to three days of tracking per song is the norm.

I knew the songs were great and I knew I had a great team. So I figured we’d get in there and play them and it would be awesome. Sort of... to be honest, I was a nervous wreck going into this project. My anxiety about the unreasonable timeline manifested in me sticking my head in the sand. If I’d had my wits about me there was a lot more that I could have done to prepare. I’ll have to do a podcast episode or two on pre-production.

So anyway, Mitch Webb and I drove to Alabama, loaded in and the first night we started on this song. Chris Bethea had already done a few days of setup with the Portside crew. Unlike me, he was as prepared as he could be.

This is actually from a few days later at Sun Drop Sound but this is how calm Chris Bethea was on day one …because he was prepared.

Chris Bethea Is A Rare Talent

Bethea has incredible ears and does fantastic mixes. This is a fact.

The thing that really sets him apart though is his professionalism. He’s not professional in a stuffy, snobby, or rigid way. He’s just calmly on top of his shit while being super creative and rolling with the whims of the artists he mixes for.

He’s a rare breed. There are many professional music people that are so businessy that they make songs like they’re making widgets. And then there are super chill musicians that are great …when they remember to show up. Bethea straddles that middle part of the spectrum like a boss.

Case in point: he was ready when we rolled in. If he was stressed he didn’t show it.

Making The first move

Anyway, we started by listening to the demo and decided to start with the acoustic guitars. We wanted kind of a loose, group acoustic strummed feel. I know we listened to How To Disappear Completely by Radiohead as a rhythmic feel reference. I'm sure we listened to some other stuff as well.

To start, JP Ruggeri scribbled out a chord chart. Then he, Jenn, and Sam all went out, sat in a circle, and did some kind of mind-meld group acoustic strumming. That was the core of the track.

The first thing you record is the most important decision in the process. Because I wanted this song to be loose, I opted for no click and for not starting with something solid like drums and bass. I chose to build the entire production on a foundation of sand.

I can hear you now, “But Chris, doesn’t that cause problems down the line?”

You’re damn right it does! It was a thorn in our side the entire freaking process. Tracking anything rhythmic to this was nearly impossible.

Here’s the thing: would I change the decision if I could?

No way!

That’s why this song feels the way it does. Mission accomplished.

We had to bail on many otherwise “good” overdub ideas because they didn’t work with this feel. And that’s was the point.

How you start ties you and your musician’s hands for the rest of the process.

If you start with a click track and a solid foundation, there’s no going back. You can’t make it looser later on. You’re committed to your track sounding like a big click track at the end and in the words of Fiona Apple…

no one f**ks to a click track!

Microphones Matter

After the acoustics were down, we had Sam shoot out two vocal mics.

Shocker: Chris Bethea’s go-to chain won. It’s a Soyuz 017 Tube into a Maag PreQ4 with a little 10k shelf added on top and a Tube-Tech CL1B.

Sam sang a take or two, doubled it and it was done. I don’t think we even comped anything. We were freaking out hearing her vocal. That sound and that performance are insane.

I’ve recorded Sam on lesser quality microphones and signal paths. She was still incredible. Of course, the performance is more important than the gear.

But hearing her sing through this vocal chain gave me way more goosebumps. The intimacy quality went through the roof. It’s why we were able to keep her vocal bone dry. We didn’t need to try and dress her vocal up in reverb.

I’m sure she felt like she wasn’t having to work as hard and fight to hear herself. So she probably sang better. Mics matter. Get the best you can.

First Overdubs

Then I ran out, played the kick, snare, and ride cymbal. Hi-hat didn’t work. Then I put on some simple bass guitar including that kind of bouncy four against three figure at the end. That inspired the horn part down the line.

That night after most of us went home. Mitch, JP, and Seth made crazy sounds till the wee hours of the morning. Cellos, feedback, slide guitars, and a piano through a guitar amp.

It was an awesome start to the project and I thought “alrighty, smooth sailing! We’ll just do one song a day and we’ll meet our deadline.”

How naive of me to think every song would go down this smoothly!

This was the top of the rollercoaster and soon we would descend into the typical creative project curve of:

This is gonna be amazing!
This is so painful and hard. Let me off this ride.
Wow, we made this?!? Cool!

More Overdubs

Jenn playing a felt piano. Not the one on this track.

Once we got home we tried a few remote overdubs. Some worked. Most didn’t. This is the nature of overdubs, especially remote ones. It always feels a bit like fishing and is pretty much the bane of my existence. But every now and then you get lucky and you record an overdub that transforms an entire track in an instant.

On this track, Jenn’s felted piano part was like that. It tied everything together. Before that, there was a big musical hole in the track. There were lots of cool paddy sounds floating around but no melody besides the vocal. The piano took care of that and added some rhythmic interest as well that we couldn’t do with drums and percussion due to the lack of a steady tempo.

Mitch recorded his gorgeous horns on his own. They add a lift for the back half of the track. Not to mention class. I’m trying to find the words but really they speak for themselves.

Besides those overdubs, we had at least three different drummers take a stab at this song trying to find the right feel. Due to me purposefully tying their hands by the lack of steady tempo, they all struggled. Sorry, y’all.

What we ended up with is a composite of different feels. I know we landed on approaches like using Zach Martin's kick drum part with my kick drum sound. Then we blended Kyle Jahnke's percussion with an alternate kit that I did through a Sansamp. Whatever it takes.

Wait, have I mentioned Jenn’s harmonies in the chorus? They feel like a modernized CSNY. There’s something kind of artificial feeling about them too but it’s not vocoded or anything. She sang it like that. Magic.

Of course, Mitch fixed our mistakes without managing to show his fingerprints. Then Chris Bethea fully realized the vision and made it all feel like a big, cohesive thing with his mix. And he turned that mix around faster than expected without sacrificing quality …like he always does. Professional.

That pretty much sums it up. I’m super proud of this one and honored to have worked on it. Thanks for listening and reading! -Chris